Spark
by Moonygirl'04
Summary: Endymion is cursed to an eternity of servitude as a djinn unless he can convince a human girl to accept his hand in marriage. Serena is a high school senior, about to head away to college when a falling star lands in her backyard. But instead of a lump of melted rock, she finds a golden lamp with a powerful secret.
1. Prologue: A Punishment to Fit the Crime

Prologue: A Punishment to Fit the Crime

Sand roughened hands gripped the tops of Endymion's arms as they dragged him through a high arched hall of cold marble. His knees skimmed the floor and he felt the skin snag and tear on the rough edges of the marble tiles. He struggled to get to his feet but the momentum of their walking kept him from standing and walking on his own. They reached a stone door etched with drawings of grotesque monsters, mystical beings, and celebrated warriors. The Sultan's door. The slight pause they made allowed Endymion to climb to his feet and when they moved forward through the now open doorway he moved with more decorum and less pain.

"This is him?" the Sultan stood under a canopy, a scroll clasped in his hand.

"Yes, Your Majesty." the guards replied, keeping Endymion's arms in a firm grip.

The Sultan's frown turned to a grimace and he sighed, pulling off his high turban and running an aging hand through still dark hair. "You, boy, what do you have to say for yourself before you are sentenced to death?"

Endymion's throat went dry as though he had swallowed a glass of sand and he could not force himself to utter any words of defense. He bowed his head in reply.

"No words? Most men brought here for a death sentence at least have a final request." the Sultan chuckled grimly. "Very well. Slit his throat."

As the guard to Endymion's right drew a gleaming dagger from his belt the stone doors were thrown open once again as the princess ran headlong towards her father, her robes flaring behind her like wings.

"Father, no!" She fell at his feet and grabbed his robe in shaking hands as she bowed her head. "Please Father, do not kill him. I had a fair share in our indiscretion. It is not fair to kill him for an act I also committed."

The guard with the blade lowered his arm slightly as the Sultan's face softened at his daughter's tears. "My dear," he cooed in an undignified way. "You are a princess. He is but a commoner. There are laws that must be obeyed." His reassuring smile fell. "He broke the law when he looked upon your face; he defiled his soul when he dared to touch you. I must carry out his sentence."

"Please, Father…" she pleaded. "Anything but death, I could not bear to know he was killed on my behalf. I…I love him, Father." she sobbed.

Endymion's concern for his own life faded away as he stared awestruck at the audacity of the Princess's words.

The Sultan bent to wrap his arms around his daughter's slender shoulders and pulled her up, supporting her as her knees trembled. "Very well, my darling." he said. "He will not be sentenced to death, however you must know you cannot marry him. And any man who touches you who is not your husband is a criminal and must be punished."

"I understand, Father." she replied in a soft voice. She turned large, dark brown eyes on Endymion, tears streaking over her darkly tanned cheeks. "I want him to have a chance of a new life somewhere, where he may escape his reputation."

The Sultan sighed as he brushed away her tears. "Exile then." He turned to Endymion, a new hardness to his black eyes as he announced the new sentence. "Leave. Leave this palace, leave this city, leave this kingdom and never return. As long as you live, and your children and their children, you will never be welcome here again."

The guards released his arms, though he remained oblivious to the dark purple bruises quickly forming where their hands had been. His eyes were locked on the Princess's shining ones. She smiled grimly at him, but said nothing. There was nothing more to say.

"Go!" the Sultan roared, throwing a hand out towards Endymion. As if the gesture contained some kind of power, Endymion stumbled backwards, his bare heel striking the marble floor sharply before he turned and fled, oblivious to the pain in his arms, his feet, and his heart. He ran across the cold floor until he reached the outer courts where the marble turned to stone before it turned to sand. Running through the sand slowed him, but he did not stop. He plodded through, refusing to look back in case the Sultan saw from his balcony where he was no doubt watching and changed his mind about his sentence.

The moon shone over the sand as brightly as the sun, but with none of its warmth. He shivered in the cold desert night air yet refused to stop. He'd probably freeze to death anyway without the blood flow walking gave him. The Princess's eyes haunted him through the darkness. He glanced up at the stars and in their sparkling he saw the depths of her eyes as she looked at him that final time.

The sun rose slowly and with a burning ferocity that belied the cold temperatures of the night. The sand beneath Endymion's feet soon turned from cool to scorching and blisters formed on the sensitive arch without any support to keep it away from the hot sand. Sweat poured down his face and back but he did not stop. He could not stop. There was not a kingdom for leagues around, Aria being an oasis in the massive desert. Only the bravest of travelers and nomads dared to cross it. His sentence of exile would be as good as a death sentence unless Endymion could find a camp or a natural oasis.

His foot stuck in a thick mound of sand and he tripped, sprawling on the hot sand. Though it burned his already sun burned skin he did not try to get back up. He breathed heavily and his legs ached from walking through the molasses like sand. It was a good hour before Endymion was able to resume walking and it was without the urgency for which he had started his journey. He no longer had to fear the Sultan's guards pursuing him. It was too far even for their camels to trek for someone as defenseless as him. The sun was once again falling from the sky, resting briefly on the horizon before it was swallowed by the sand dunes.

Endymion relished the brief comfortable atmosphere before the moon chilled the air and raised bumps on his red and blistered flesh. He could not continue like this much longer. Already he felt the severe effects of sweating all day with no drink of water. He tongue was as dry as he throat had been at the altar of the Sultan and his head ached from the glare of the sun. A freezing breeze slapped him across the cheek and his teeth began to chatter beyond his control. He would die in this desert, after the Princess had risked her father's wrath to spare him, he would die.

He began to stumble from his dehydration and exhaustion and when he fell the second time he did not think he would ever get up again. He managed to turn onto his back so that he could stare up into the pin-pricked velvet that was the sky. The moon turned everything silver and he felt like he was lying in a pool of the metal, melted down by the day's heat. The stars became the Princess's eyes again and he thought that if he must die, he would die facing his sin.

Endymion did not know when he blacked out, or when he awoke. He did know that instead of rough sand, his head rested on a lump of fur and his burns had been coated with a cooling salve. He sat up slowly, his head spinning with the effort.

"Easy, tiger," a female voice echoed from outside the tent he realized he was in. A woman emerged through the burlap flap, a bucket of what sounded like water clutched in one hand and a loaf of bread in the other. She was tall, so tall her ebony locks seemed to brush the ceiling of the tent. Everything about her was large and elegant, she moved like a warrior, gracefully yet with purpose. Her large eyes reflected golden in the lamplight thrown from a corner of the tent. She wore a strange garment of leather which wrapped around her chest and hips, but hid little else. Her black hair was wound into an elaborate braid which crowned her head and trailed down her back, creating a striking contrast between the darkness of her hair and the darkness of her skin. She almost seemed like another creature. "In your present condition I wouldn't even think of getting up."

"Who are you? Where am I?" Endymion asked, easing back down on the furs spread over the sand.

"There will be time for questions once you've rested fully." She kneeled beside him, dipping a ladle in the bucket of water and holding it to his peeling lips. "Slowly, now." He sipped the water, its sweet, coolness satiating his throat. Once he had drank the whole ladle full, the woman handed him the bread and he nibbled on it slowly as he watched her warily.

"Who are you?" he asked again once he'd finished the bread and drank another ladle full of water.

The woman chuckled and stood to her full height, placing wide, yet slender hands on defined hips. "I am Rei," she replied. "Your rescuer. Now, go back to sleep. You must be well rested to meet the rest of the tribe."

"Tribe? You are not traveling alone?" he asked as he pulled a fur over him, careful of his burns.

"In this desert? I would be a fool to travel alone." she chuckled before extinguishing the lamp and exiting the tent.

Endymion strained to listen for any voices but could only hear the sigh of the wind and a distant bird warning its prey of its approach. He mused over the woman's strange appearance and what he had stumbled into, but his eyelids began to droop and he soon fell asleep.

The next time Endymion awoke, sunlight was streaming through the tent flap and a fresh loaf of bread and bucket of water stood beside his makeshift bed. He sat up gingerly, remembering his lightheadedness the night before. His head didn't spin and even his burns felt better. He noticed the salve had been refreshed as well and she flushed as he wondered who had been so near and yet had not awoken him. He ate the bread, still slowly in case his stomach should turn against him and drank a ladle of water.

"Good morning," Rei called as she burst through the tent flap, this time her leather ensemble covered by a leather cape which protected her skin against the sun. "Feeling better?"

"Yes, much, thanks to your help, I believe?" he nodded to his burns already fading to a light pink.

"Oh no, that wasn't me. You should thank Ami when you meet her. She's our medic, not that we need her much." Rei chuckled as if at a private joke.

"So, there are more than one of you." Endymion assured himself.

"Of course, as I said last night, we are a tribe. You will meet them when you join us all for the midday meal later. Before then however, you must bathe and change those horrendous clothes." Rei frowned at his appearance. "You cannot meet Beryl as you are now."

"Who's Beryl?"

"The leader of the tribe. You will need her approval to travel with us until we reach the nearest village. Without that…" Rei drew her finger across her dark neck.

Endymion gulped at how nearly he had already come to death. He did not relish having to endure that again. Rei pulled a wash tub from another corner of the tent and filled it after only three trips to wherever they got their water from. She left Endymion with a bar of lye soap and a rough pad to scrub himself, along with strict instructions to thoroughly clean himself as Beryl valued cleanliness in her tribal members. She also left him a clean garment to change into which when he dressed himself turned out to be a variation of her outfit only altered to cover a man. He threw the accompanying cape over it and called for Rei to alert her he was finished bathing but she did not respond. He stepped over to the tent flap and peered through the crack she had left, searching for any sign of the other tribal members.

Tents were erected all around him in the same fashion as Rei's though of varying sizes. He noticed the tent that stood in what seemed to be a circle of tents was the largest and most elaborate. No doubt Beryl occupied that tent. Rei's face appeared in the crack and Endymion stumbled back as she threw back the tent flap, smiling mischievously at him.

"Ready to meet my sisters?"

Endymion blinked. "Sisters? Are there no men in this tribe?"

Rei laughed, grabbing the buckets used in his bath and depositing them in a corner of the tent. "Of course not! We have no need of men in this tribe. You are, in fact, the first man we have entertained in quite a while."

Heedless of his new reservations Rei threw open the tent flap and waved him out into the open air. He stepped out cautiously, expecting an ambush of some kind but nothing stirred. Indeed, the tents were set up in a circular fashion, protecting the large tent in the middle beside which stood a solidly built well, the source of his bath and drinking water.

"Where is everyone?" he pondered aloud.

"We tend to stay out of the roasting sun as you well know." Rei explained, leading him towards a slightly larger tent adjacent to her own. "This is our leisure tent, where we eat and spend our free time. Be prepared to be stared at." She warned, her hand hovering over the tightly sealed tent flap. She loosened it and pulled it aside, stepping in and holding the flap open for him.

He stepped into the cool shade and froze as ten sets of eyes locked on him with hunter like precision. They were all dressed like Rei in leather garments covering their chests and hips, their capes draped over the ground to form their seats. None of them seemed to possess the openness of Rei. They stared at him warily, some even with disgust as he followed Rei's example and spread his leather cape beside hers, seating himself.

"My sisters, I trust you will show sympathy and kindness to this weary traveler." Rei introduced, meeting several of their gazes with authority. A few of them nodded, some even smiled. One however, continued to watch him with a look of disgust.

"Sister Minako, is something the matter?" Rei asked, noting her deep grimace.

"Indeed, if you will step outside with me I will inform you of the problem." Minako spat, standing quickly and exiting the tent. Rei sighed and followed her, pulling her cape from the ground and over her shoulders in a well-practiced and fluid movement Endymion admired. Left alone with the other nine women, he felt awkward and out of place, though slightly more comfortable without the disapproving gaze of Minako. It was almost as if she knew his shame. But of course she couldn't. Word could not have spread this far this fast.

"Would you like a kebab?" one of the women asked, holding a charred piece of meat speared with a metal rod out to him.

His stomach rumbled after his meager snacks of bread and he gladly accepted the meat, smiling at the woman as she returned to the back tent flap and continued cooking over a low fire, fanning the smoke away from the tent flap. He chewed the meat slowly, observing the women as they resumed what they were doing before he intruded. They were all tall, like Rei, and dark skinned, the color of wet sand compared, and larger in bearing than anyone he'd ever met, though they were all well-shaped. He'd heard tales of women warriors from far away lands, but he wasn't sure if these were of the same caliber.

Rei returned through the tent flap without Minako, her engaging smile gone and a frown pulling down the corners of her mouth. She glanced at Endymion and he caught the edge of what seemed to be contempt before she crossed the room and whispered in another of the tribeswoman's ears. That woman shot a startled, disgusted glance at Endymion before nodding and standing, throwing her cape over her shoulders in the same easy way as Rei. They approached Endymion slowly and he felt a surge of fear at the determined look in their eyes.

"You have not been completely honest with us, Endymion." Rei began, circling him.

He dropped the kebab and stood slowly. "What do you mean?"

The other woman laughed. "You know perfectly well what we mean."

"Makoto," Rei warned. "Why don't you tell us how you came to be lost in the desert?"

A lump rose in Endymion's throat and a cold sweat began on his brow. "I…I was traveling and got lost." he forced out, taking a step back as Makoto and Rei stepped closer.

"Very general answer. Could you give us more specifics…such as why were you traveling? Why were you traveling alone?" Rei urged him on, crossing strong arms over her chest.

Endymion swallowed. He somehow knew he could not lie to these women. And he knew whose side they would assume. "I was exiled by the Sultan of Aria."

"If only that were your only crime, we could forgive it." Makoto spat. "Tell us…tell us all why you were exiled!"

Endymion shirked under the furrowed glares of the women. The silence seemed massive and the spitting meat on the hot coals added a grim aspect to the atmosphere. "I had…an affair with the Sultan's daughter."

"Underemphasizing again!" Minako turned to the women with a flare of her sapphire eyes. "He broke her heart. He lied to her, used her, and then cast her aside." A gasp met her revelation, followed by angry murmuring as the women stood and stepped towards Endymion. He was the mouse in a cage full of cats. There would be no escape.

"How do you know how I came to be here?"

"Minako has the Gift of Truth, a trait you obviously undervalue." Makoto snarled.

"There is no crime as horrendous in our tribe as breaking the heart of a woman." Rei explained as she stepped even closer. In a flash, she grasped his arm, Makoto his other and they were dragging him from the tent and into the tribal leader's tent. He flashed back to the Sultan's palace and the guards who had dragged him into the Sultan's chamber. These tribal women were no difference. Their grips were as strong, if not stronger, their fingers digging into his muscles until they seemed to clench his very bones.

Beryl's tent was dark and thick with a perfume similar to the Sultan's garden roses. A single lantern was lit and it hung on a hook over a large and heavily ornamented throne that seemed to be made of jade and encrusted with precious gems. A dark figure sat on this throne, her chin propped on her fist as she watched Rei and Makoto drag Endymion through the tent door and throw him at her feet.

"Well, well, well…" Beryl chuckled. "A man who has broken a woman's heart. Isn't that just so…" she paused, her chuckle dissipating into a growl. "Familiar." she stood with a suddenness that startled even her tribeswomen and grabbed the leather that covered Endymion's chest, jerking him up to her eye level, lifting him clean off his feet. "You are despicable. Your crime is great in our eyes, greater that you would have the audacity to remain in our camp and leech off our hospitality. I should kill you right now." She contemplated him with her angry jade-colored eyes before dropping him with a grunt of disgust.

"No," she finally said, walking past her throne and lighting another lantern so that the tent's features were thrown into definition. "That would be a blessing. When a woman's heart is broken, she does not physically die. If only you could, and so many have ended their own lives because of your sex. No, she must suffer until her death. And so should you." A large, low pot sat in the middle of the tent, filled to the brim with roses, the cause of the smell in the air. Beryl stroked a velvet bud with a large, slender finger, her touch barely moving the bud, belying the gentleness of her touch.

"My sisters," she announced, turning to the crowd of tribeswomen who had assembled as she tended her flowers. "We must hold counsel to decide his punishment. Form the Sacred Circle."

They gathered noiselessly around the roses, throwing their capes down before settling into a cross-legged sitting position and taking the hands of their neighbors. Beryl removed her heavy, fur-lined cloak of deep burgundy, revealing a light, flowing, fitted robe of jade and accented with a golden belt, fitting it the curvature of her waist. She settled as gracefully as a swan, taking the hands of Rei and Minako and closing her eyes.

"Oh, great One," the tribeswomen chanted, raising their hands towards the roses. "We come to You, imploring Your Wisdom, Your Guidance, Your Power to deal with this infidel. By the power of Your Sanctification, we Pray." they bowed their heads and kissed their joined hands before raising their eyes once more to Beryl.

"As I said before, his punishment should be one of long term suffering. What I ask of you, my sisters, is what sort of method should we enact?"

"I am not opposed to a slow death of a thousand cuts." Makoto chimed in quickly, shooting Endymion a nasty look.

"But in begging for death he would eventually find relief. The princess will not be so lucky." Beryl said stoically as the voice of reason.

They were silent as each contemplated the proper punishment to inflict on Endymion. As the tribeswomen talked, Endymion surveyed the tent, searching for an escape. The circle of women blocked the most obvious exit, and the tent had been so well erected that no edge fluttered that he might escape through. He wished he had a knife to pierce the material of the tent but there were none lying in view. He was trapped. Trapped by the Sultan, trapped by the desert, and now trapped by the vindictive women who assembled before him. To flee past them would be pointless. They were larger and stronger, and outnumbered him completely.

"I believe I may have the answer, sisters." Beryl finally said, after another lengthy meditation. She stood fluidly, the tribe standing with her as though connected by some unseen cord. She moved closer to her pot of roses and bent over them, smoothing the velvet buds and caressing the full-blown flowers as they reached for her arm. She plucked a full rose from the center and held it to her nose, taking in the rich scent. "My precious creations," she cooed, rubbing the petals against her cheek. She turned her lips to them and kissed it. A bubbling shadow erupted from the petals, flowing over her hands and falling to the floor where it snaked over the floor, threading its darkness through their legs. Endymion stepped back but he could not escape the shadow as it wound around his ankles. His feet instantly cooled, yet he felt no pain as he'd expected. He looked back up to Beryl and noticed that where the rose had been, she now clutched an ebony lamp with an elaborately braided handle.

The tribeswomen smiled and nodded at each other as Beryl held it up to the light for them to examine. "Eternal servitude," Makoto grinned and snickered. "So much worse than the death of a thousand cuts."

"Indeed," Beryl agreed, turning a cat-like smile on Endymion and extending a long, slender hand. "Come, boy."

That unseen force which caused the tribeswomen to rise with Beryl wrapped around his waist and jerked him forward, causing his head to snap back with the sudden force. Her strong hand gripped his forearm, nails digging into his sunburned flesh.

"You will be bound to this lamp, forced to grant whoever shall find it three wishes, after which you will be returned to the lamp until it shall next be found."

Her words were smooth, yet malicious, and a chill raised the hairs on the back of Endymion's neck as his fate was announced.

"You're…" he began, his voice choked. "You're not human."

Beryl laughed, raising a mocking eyebrow. "Of course not, silly boy. We are greater than mere humans. We are the tribe of si'lats."

Endymion gasped and Beryl's grip tightened.

"It would have been better had you died in that desert." Beryl continued. "Now, let us begin your imprisonment."

The tribeswomen moved in a tight circle around them, clasping their hands and murmuring a low chant.

"Power of the sands, I command thee!" Beryl called, her voice resounding in Endymion's ears. "Clasp this mortal in your claws of vengeance, master his soul, and mould him to this lamp of eternity."

Pulsing began in the palm of Beryl's hand which gripped Endymion's arm and it vibrated through his bones, taking root in his chest. He gasped at the unseen force clenched his heart, cutting off his air, ceasing its beating.

"Enslave him with your winds; fill him with your fire. Turn him, turn him into the lowest of our kind, the lowest of the jinn. A slave to man…a slave to woman."

Endymion felt his skin tighten over his muscles and the world began to grow around him. The si'lats changed to giantesses. Then to gods. His lungs constricted with the need for air, his veins for the pulse of blood. His vision blurred as the chanting grew to singing.

"Let eternity be his punishment." Beryl finished in a rasping voice, touching the lamp to Endymion's forehead.

He screamed as it seared the flesh there, as his whole body convulsed and twisted to fill the hollow of the lamp, screamed until he had no room left to scream. The last glimpse of the world before he was sealed away was of Beryl's triumphant smile.


	2. Chapter 1: A Thousand Years Later

Chapter 1: A Thousand Years Later…

Serena Marshal shuffled through the lunch line, grimacing at the containers of food displayed for the students' perusal. There was an orange, goopy substance labeled sweet potatoes, flat, square, white patties labeled turkey, withered corn on the cob, and wilted salad. Beyond that was the dessert, but Serena never made it beyond the main course line. Nobody did. She paid for her turkey patty and salad and began to search for a place to sit. As usual, the cafeteria was packed with students catching up, chatter echoed through the high ceilinged room, filling her ears and distracting her. A student with a brown bag ran past her, almost knocking her tray from her hands and he turned around long enough to snicker at her before running off again.

At least he noticed her. It was rare that anybody looked at her. She was nondescript in the highest order. She had mid-length, light blonde hair she kept pulled back in a bun at the nape of her neck, light blue eyes the color of the sky on any slightly hazy day, and she always wore loose, floral tops, dark jeans, and sneakers. Pretty much the only thing about her anyone noticed was her ears. They stuck out a little, which was especially noticeable with the bun and had garnered many jokes dealing with cell phone reception and flying. But only when anyone bothered to notice her.

Serena sighed and made her way out of the cafeteria. Her mother had asked that she attempt to make friends by eating with everybody else, but she just didn't understand. Serena was a senior. The time for making friends in high school had long past. She would be going away to college in the fall and never have to see any of these people again. Columbia was calling and she would be leaving her small town and the state of Ohio for good since her mom was transferring to New York as well. Maybe she could make friends in college, when she was surrounded by likeminded individuals, people who enjoyed old films, classic rock, and star gazing. She sighed again. 'Not likely,' she thought as she maneuvered down the stairs, holding her tray out to watch her feet. She might find people who shared similar interests, but that didn't mean anything unless you actually talked to them, and she'd suffered from debilitating shyness since starting school. Her counselor called her an introvert and gave her up as a lost cause, saying she would probably never fully function in a social setting. Like she was some type of toaster that couldn't be fixed.

"Whatever," she whispered to herself as she hit the last step and searched for the door to the library. "Who needs friends anyway? They only demand your time and energy. Time I could use for more useful things, like TCM marathons and…well," she paused, turning on her heel. Andrew Tillman was standing behind her, giving her a strange look and suppressing a laugh.

"Sorry," he said. "Didn't mean to interrupt. It sounded like a serious conversation." he laughed, going to his locker and swinging it open to pull out a brown paper bag like the one the boy in the cafeteria had had clenched in his fist as he'd ran past her. She briefly thought she should start packing her own lunch before his words hit her. He'd heard her saying she had no friends. He'd heard her talking to herself like a crazy person. A blush crept up her neck and permeated her cheeks and she knew she must look like a tomato with shoulders, but horror and her shyness kept her joints locked in place. She could only stand there, looking down at the tiles, blushing. She heard him laugh again and walk away, leaving her humiliated. When she was convinced he was gone she tossed her lunch, tray and all in the nearest garbage bin and ran to the music room.

It was always deserted, since the school placed so much more emphasis on sports than the arts and really only consisted of a black board and a beaten up old piano. The music teacher had a habit of locking herself up in her office and listening to Mozart while she "graded papers". Serena had caught a glimpse of her one day when the office door had been left ajar and she was actually taking a nap. She was eighty-four, after all. Serena sank down on the piano chair, her fingers going to the yellowed keys immediately and pounding out a melody she'd composed the night before. It was only a hobby, writing music, one of which she'd taken up shortly after seeing her therapist for the first time on his suggestion. He said music was a good way to vent emotions and being friendless, probably one of the only ways she had. Luckily her mother had invested in piano lessons growing up; to keep Serena entertained when the bike she got her for Christmas just sat in the garage gathering dust.

Her fingers danced across the keys expertly. Her skills no doubt exceeded that of the music teacher's, but nobody but her mother would ever know. Her fingers stilled on the keys and the room grew quiet again. 'What's the point?' Serena asked herself. She shut the piano lid and rested her head on her arms as tears splashed on the dented and scraped wood. Music was supposed to be shared and she could never work up the courage to share hers with anybody, so why bother?

After a few moments of silent tears, Serena dried her eyes on her sleeve and resigned herself to the rest of the school day. Her last two classes passed in a daze of doodled notes and silent sighs. Even the teachers barely noticed her. Their eyes swept the classroom in search of the perky, attractive students. Serena kept her head down and continued her doodles. By the end of the day she had sketched out the southwestern sky's constellations and was working her way north. The final bell rang and she slapped her notebook shut as she practically flew from her seat and out the door.

Her mom's small sedan sat in the curve of the high school's parking lot, where she waited every day. "How was school?" her mom asked just like every other day.

"Good." Serena replied, just like every other day. Her mom grunted and put the car in drive, pulling away as the rest of the student body began piling out the doors. Serena was usually the first one out. And her mom wouldn't let her forget it.

"Did you talk to anybody today?" she asked, pulling out onto the highway.

Serena thought to the boy who'd laughed at her as he'd overheard her talking to himself. "Sort of." She couldn't help but grin.

"That's great, honey!" her mom gushed, genuinely happy. Serena squirmed in her seat, ignoring the guilty weight in her stomach. It wasn't a lie, technically. She couldn't help it if her mom took it a certain way that wasn't necessarily true. "What's her name?"

"It was a boy, actually." she replied without thinking. The car swerved a little as her mom gaped at her.

"A BOY!" she squealed, quickly righting the car and reaching over to grab her daughter's hand. "You've made a real breakthrough today! Should we go see Dr. Thompson?" she scowled at the name. "No, ice cream!" her face brightened. "This definitely calls for ice cream." Her mom chattered on and the guilty feeling in Serena's stomach grew until finally she couldn't take it.

"MOM!" she interrupted. Her mom stopped talking and glanced at her, still grinning.

"What is it, honey?" she asked innocently.

"It wasn't quite what you think it was. I was going to eat lunch in the library and I was talking to myself and he just happened to overhear. I didn't actually talk to him." Serena clarified. Her mom's grin quickly faded with her words and she put her hand back on the wheel, leaving Serena's feeling cold, like the rest of her. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"There's nothing to feel sorry about." her mom replied in a clipped tone. The rest of the car ride was silent. It was far too long before they pulled into the cracked driveway of their one story, brick house with its scraggily front lawn and over grown hedges. As they made their way up the drive, her mom vowed again to do something about it that summer. Serena grabbed her books and quickly exiting the car, letting herself into the house with her key and fleeing to her bedroom. She closed the door behind her with a sigh of relief, sinking to the purple carpet as though she'd returned from a perilous journey. She gazed around her room with teary eyes, taking in the well-worn wooden bed with its patchwork quilt her grandmother had made for her when she was a baby, her metal desk with the glow-in-the-dark stickers stuck all over the sides, and her full bookshelf of precious novels she lived precariously through. It was the only place in the world she felt relaxed and safe. Nobody could hurt her here.

"Serena?" her mom knocked on the door gently.

"Yeah?" Serena replied tentatively.

"Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes. Do you want to eat at the table?" Serena thought for a moment. She felt bad about getting her mom's hopes up, but if she ate with her she'd have to listen to her mom give her hints about how to make friends and be more outgoing, which was almost worse than actually doing those things.

"Can I just eat in my room? I have a lot of homework."

Her mom sighed and agreed, making her way back down the hallway slowly. Serena sighed as well and stood, throwing her back pack on her bed and settling in her desk chair. Her computer was an out of date hunk of metal that could not be moved easily, but still ran well enough. She'd left her astronomy computer program open from that morning zoomed in on her favorite constellation of the unicorn. She smiled as she traced it with her pinky. She could always count on the stars to make her feel better. Indeed, the more she stared at them on the computer the more she longed for night to come. It had been a bright, clear day and she'd looked forward all day to taking her telescope out that night.

Her mom finished supper and she ate it while watching a silent film with the Marx brothers before delving into her homework, all the while keeping a careful eye on the darkening evening through the miniscule slit in her curtains. As she closed her last textbook and put away her pencil she deemed it to be dark enough outside to see the stars clearly and hefted her telescope over her shoulder along with a blanket and her IPod. Her mom looked up from her paperwork only briefly before looking back down.

"Be careful and take a jacket." she said with a resigned tone in her voice. Thankful, Serena grabbed her windbreaker and made her way to the backyard, setting up the telescope with a practiced ease and spreading the blanket on the grass. After a quick view through the lens she spotted the comet she'd been waiting for, watching as it arced across the dark sky in a slow, fiery blaze. She lay on the blanket after she'd had her fill of the comet, smiling up at the stars as she listened to Jimi Hendrix play a rift on his electric guitar. She wished she could stay like that forever, alone with her stars and music, in her own little world.

In between tracts she heard somebody clearing their throat and jumped up, turning wide eyes to the top of the privacy fence which separated her yard from the neighbors. It was Andrew. He grinned down at her and gave a little wave. "Hey neighbor." he laughed. "Long time no see, huh?"

Serena just stared at him, her finger frozen on the pause button of her IPod. He was her neighbor? Since when?

"You look like you've seen a ghost." he joked before hoisting himself over the fence and landing easily in her yard. "Are you going to say hi?" he asked, settling himself on the quilt besides her plucking her headphones out of her ears.

"Wh-I-Um…" she muttered, trying to make words come out, anything coherent at all. "I…didn't know we were neighbors." she said finally, surprising herself.

"Really?" he laughed, scrolling through her IPod. "We've lived beside each other for nearly two years. Jeez, you really don't get out much, do you?"

"Not really." she admitted. "What are you doing here?" she asked after he continued going through her music library.

"I was bored and I heard music. Thought it was a party." he chuckled. "Boy was I wrong." He finally looked up, laying her IPod aside and glancing at the telescope with interest. "So, you like astronomy?"

"Yeah," she replied her eyes on her hands as they fiddled nervously in her lap.

"I've never looked through a telescope. Mind if I check it out?" he asked. She shook her head, blushing in the darkness.

He stood up and put his eye to the lens, turning it as he gazed at the stars. Serena watched him, knowing he would not notice and wondered how she had happened to be spending the evening with Andrew? He wasn't the most popular boy in school, but he was well-liked. He'd just transferred to her high school a couple of years ago from India, where his father, a captain in the military had been stationed since he was five years old. He was tall, but thin, with shaggy blond hair and vibrant blue eyes like ice, or the ocean. He was attractive, which made Serena's shyness all the more evident and her stomach growled with her nervousness.

"Wow!" Andrew exclaimed suddenly, causing Serena to jump and goose bumps to rise on her skin. "Sere, you have to see this!"

She blinked at his back, confused by his nickname for her. Nobody called her Sere. Ever. Not even her mother. In her surprise she forgot to be shy as she walked over to see what had him so excited. He stepped out of her way carefully and allowed her to look through the lens. He had moved it down from the sky and had it positioned perfectly to see into her other neighbor's upstairs window where her elderly neighbor was dancing in a white, button down shirt, boxer-briefs, and tube socks. Serena pulled back quickly, her face redder than she ever remembered it being and swatted at Andrew, while trying to contain a hysterical giggle.

"That's not funny!" she insisted as Andrew laughed hysterically, holding his stomach and collapsing to the ground. Despite her blush and intense fear of people, she grinned and settled down beside him. He quelled his laughter and rolled over on his side, watching her watch him. "How do you do it?" she asked quietly.

"Do what?" he asked curiously.

"Just come over and make yourself so comfortable? You don't know me and you act like that doesn't matter at all." Her stuttering had gone away and she found her thoughts were calm, a rarity around strangers.

"I know who you are." he chuckled. "We're neighbors. And I just thought it was time we got to know each other better. You're such a hermit."

"I'm not a hermit. I just have social issues." she replied, slightly indignant.

"And you think hermits don't have social issues?" Serena sat back on her heels, frowning at him.

"Did you just come over here to make fun of me?"

"No," he smirked. "I came over to help you unwind. I thought if I came on your turf you'd be relaxed enough to actually talk to me. And I was right, sort of." he laughed as her frown deepened and began to stand. "But I can see I've worn out my welcome for the evening, so I'll be going." He hoisted himself back up on the fence, pausing to look back at her. "See you at school tomorrow!" he called before leaping over the fence and out of view. Serena grunted in frustration and crawled to lie on her back, staring miserably up at the sky.

Had she been a normal girl, she would have been giddy that a boy had just scaled a fence after dark, just to talk to her. But she was anything but normal. And a boy talking to her, no matter the circumstances, was terrifying. Although she had been able to converse with him, after getting over her initial terror, just thinking about it made her stomach sink. What if he told everyone at school that he'd talked to her. That she was weird? There'd be no way she could step foot in that place if people started talking about her. A salty tear trailed from the corner of her eye before she wiped it away and sighed.

"Serena, it's time to come in, you need to get in bed for school tomorrow." Serena sat up with a resigned look on her face, glancing up for one last look at her beloved sky. And then she saw a shooting star. It blazed across the sky in a glittering arc. It seemed so close, closer than any shooting star she'd ever seen. In fact, she thought it could be a meteorite. It sailed over her house and she ducked as it zoomed within feet of her head, the heat bringing a glaze of sweat to her face. It gleaned the ground of the field behind her house before settling in a smoking heap, just a foot shy of the back of her fence.

Serena glanced incredulously back at her house, expecting her mother to come running from the house, but the door remained closed. Nobody threw open a window or even showed the slightest interest in the seemingly miraculous astronomical occurrence. But Serena wasn't about to let it go to waste. She flew to her feet and ran to the thin stream of smoke coming up from the reedy grass. The object pulsed with a brick red flame and still emitted enough heat to keep her back. She knelt beside it, getting her face as close as possible. It was long, almost spherical in shape, and she thought perhaps it had a handle-shaped protuberance, perhaps whittled out by its descent through the atmosphere.

"What is that?" Andrew asked from over the fence. Serena grinned up at him, too excited to be alarmed at his sudden reappearance.

"It's a meteorite!" she squealed. "I can't believe one fell in one own backyard, what are the odds?!"

"I'd say a million in one." he replied, coming to kneel beside her. "It's weird looking, isn't it?" He reached out a hand to touch it, ignoring Serena's warning of its heat. "It's cold!" he exclaimed, wrapping his hand around it and lifting it. The aura of heat remained around the dugout area and Serena supposed it was just from the velocity of the object hitting the ground. Like a magnet, Serena followed him as he stood up, her eyes glued to the object as Andrew dusted ashes from it. He revealed a solid black, smooth surface that glinted in the light given off by the half moon. It also had a curled handle, perfectly sculpted so that it looked like a natural extension of the bottle. Because that was what it was, a bottle, a squat, shallow bottle with a handle.

Serena's excitement died down. "Someone must have thrown it from a helicopter or something." Andrew handed it to her, noting her disappointment.

"Well, it's still kind of cool." he tried to appease her.

Serena stared down at the ebony metal and frowned. "Not really. It's so boring." She noticed dim writing below the lid and rubbed at it, trying to make it more discernible through the ash.

"Whoa!" Andrew exclaimed as steam poured from beneath the lid and Serena dropped it as it suddenly became scalding hot. Andrew pulled her away from the expanding steam cloud and they watched as a solid form grew from the fallen bottle.

"I am Endymion," a deep voice echoed from the shadowy mists. A sudden breeze pulled at the steam, blowing it away to reveal a tall man with honey tanned skin, shoulder-length blue-black hair, and black eyes that seemed to bore straight into Serena. He wore loose pants with a sapphire sash holding them up and an intricately stitched tunic. "Who has awoken me from my cursed slumber?" he asked, his voice retaining its echoing quality.

Andrew glanced at Serena but she was struck speechless, this time out of shock rather than fear. "Are you a genie?" Andrew interceded.

"I am a jinni." Endymion replied, turning to face Andrew. "Did you rub my lamp?"

"Um, no. She did." He pointed to Serena and she jumped as Endymion redirected his intense gaze to her.

He bowed to her. "I have been condemned to this lamp and sent out into the universe, cursed to fulfill the wishes of whosoever finds my vessel. As the one who rubbed my lamp and released me for this sole purpose, I must give you three wishes, whatever your heart desires."

"Are you serious?" Serena replied. She turned to Andrew. "Is this actually happening? No…I'm dreaming." She wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes, willing herself to awaken. "I have to be dreaming. That explains why Andrew is here, this whole wish thing, even the skies were too clear for any of this to be real."

"What is she doing?" Endymion asked Andrew, quirking an eyebrow.

"I think she's in a state of shock." Andrew replied, thinking he wasn't so far from that himself. "Serena, I think you're going to have to open your eyes and deal with the current situation."

"I don't want to," she pleaded, keeping her eyes closed. "Can't Andrew have the wishes?"

"Only the one who freed me may make supplications for wishes." A moment of quiet and Endymion stepped closer to Serena, placing his hands on her shoulders and stooping to look into her startled open eyes. "Calm, young one. I will not hurt you. There is no need for this disbelief. Make your wishes and I will be sealed away again in the lamp and cast to the next location to be discovered."

As he spoke, his voice took on a tone of bitterness and for the first time Serena felt pity for him. "You mean you can't ever leave the lamp unless somebody calls you?"

"Yes, it is part of my punishment. My eternity of torment." Anger flashed in his eyes and he dropped his fists to his side.

"That sucks, man." Andrew supplied, watching them with interest. "Isn't there a way to get out of the deal?"

"There was no deal. I was sealed away by a powerful enchanter against my will."

"What did you do?" Serena asked.

Endymion gave her a withering look. "I prefer not to discuss my previous life with those who rub my lamp. The less they know, usually the better. Please just make your wishes."

"What if she wishes for your freedom? Since she doesn't seem too keen to use the wishes on herself." Andrew added, grinning at Serena. She scowled back at him.

"It is against the rules of my enslavement." Endymion said with an exasperated sigh. He dropped the echoing in his voice and sounded like a normal human, albeit dressed a little oddly. "I cannot escape through any power of my own. The magic granted me is strictly for the use of granting wishes of anyone but me."

"How do you escape then?" Serena asked, curious.

Endymion turned equally curious eyes on her. "I can only escape when one is willing to give their life for my salvation. Only then will the curse know that I am worthy of love and release me from my obligation."

"Oh," Serena said, sobering.

"So, you see the problem there, of course." Endymion chuckled sadly. "There are none who I would grant wishes to who would give their lives for me. So I am fated to that lamp for all eternity."

"That's so sad." Serena whispered. They were silent and Endymion shuffled his feet awkwardly.

"Look," he began. "There's no need for you to feel guilty, especially about asking for your wishes. I must accept my punishment. The fault is mine and mine alone." he attempted to console her.

"Still," she replied. "I can't help but feel like there must be some way we can help you? Surely nothing you've done has called for this level of slavery." she paused. "You didn't kill anybody, did you? Or…um…force yourself on them?" she choked out the last part. Endymion grinned at her embarrassment.

"No, neither." he paused again, sizing Serena up. "If you are sincere in your desire to help me, there is one other way, besides offering your life up." Andrew narrowed his eyes in suspicion as Serena eagerly nodded her head.

"I definitely want to help. There must be something?"

Endymion grabbed her hand, ignoring the scarlet blush that rose in her cheeks, locking his eyes on hers. "You can pledge your life to me, to be my wife." he said, dropping his voice to a sultry whisper. Serena nearly blacked out from her mortification and Andrew exclaimed loudly. "It is the only other way. I promise, I would be the most considerate lover and a strong provider." Serena was nearly crying from shame, but she could not look away from his bottomless eyes.

"I can't…" she choked. "I'm…you don't understand. I'm not that type of girl…" her words were clipped and high-pitched and her palms were sweating.

"I know," he replied, unaffected by her squirming. "I can see there is something in your mind that keeps you from growing close to others." He paused and laughed. "Luckily I am not like others either. I could help you. And we would be happy, I think."

"Come on!" Andrew butt in. "She can't get married, she's only eighteen, she's going to college! Things don't work that way here, you know?"

Endymion turned to him, his smile dropping a bit. "I am aware it is a different time than when I came from, but people do still wed here, sometimes young. Besides, we would not have to marry right away. A pledge to marry in the future would suffice." He turned back to her, excitement lighting up his features. "What do you say? Will you pledge yourself to me?"

Everything seemed to go quiet around Serena as she gazed into his eyes. Her mind seemed to race through a thousand thoughts at once, what everyone at school would say, her mother, what would be expected of her after marriage, and her plans for her future. If not Endymion, then who? Who would ever want to marry her again? For whatever reason? She was hardly the kind of girl who could go out and flirt. This was her only shot at a romantic relationship. At a boyfriend, or fiancé. He did say they didn't have to marry right away. So she could still go to school, maybe Endymion could enroll with her even. Did Columbia have married housing? She knew it wasn't the kind of promise she could enter into lightly and had a sneaking suspicion saying yes would create some kind of magical contract impossible to dissolve.

She took a shaking breath and gripped his hands with hers, hoping to take some strength for her answer. "Yes."


	3. Chapter 2: A Shooting Star

Chapter 2: A Shooting Star

"This is terrific!" he exclaimed, swinging her around. "My wife," he let her down and rested his forehead against hers. She noted in some small part of her mind not humiliated that his skin was very warm, but in a comforting way.

"But we can't marry right away," she warned. "I have to finish high school first, and then there's college and grad school. It could be five or six years."

"As long as the pledge is there, we must someday wed. That is all that matters." He pulled her against his shoulder and turned his beaming face upon Andrew. "And you are witness to this contract. Congratulate me, my friend."

Andrew was staring at Serena with a mixture of confusion and grimness. "Yeah, I guess I am. Congratulations." His voice was flat and resigned. "So, where do you guys go from here?"

"I hadn't thought of that." Serena admitted. "Where are you going to live? Do you still have any of your powers? What about birth records, a driver's license, a social security number…"

Endymion waved a hand a manila file appeared in his hand. "I have everything here I need to function in your world. The curse would not allow me out if it could not provide me with the tools to blend into whichever world I'm joining." Serena took the file and skimmed through the official looking papers. The curse had been very thorough. He even had a high school diploma, something she hadn't yet achieved. "What about living arrangements?" she asked. "My mom would never let a b-boyfriend move in with me." she stuttered over the word. It sounded even stranger to her than djinn.

Another wave of his hand he had a set of keys curled in his fingers. "Done." he said. Andrew and Serena eyed each other warily.

"So, this is actually happening." she finally convinced herself. "I am engaged to a genie." 'A hot genie,' she added to herself, which only succeeded in making her more uncomfortable.

"No longer a jinni," Endymion corrected her, glancing at the papers in the folder. "I am Endymion Rotham, student of history at Centerville Community College." he grinned at her, as if seeking her approval. She managed a weak smile back, ignoring Andrew's snort of disapproval.

"You won't be able to just snap your fingers and fit into this world." Andrew warned. "It's more complicated than going to a few classes and having your own apartment."

"I am aware of the intricacies of blending into the fabric of a community." Endymion replied, studying Andrew. "But you seem bent on dissuading me from this course. Unfortunately, the contract has already taken hold." His grip tightened on Serena's shoulder possessively.

"Serena, are you sure this is what you want?" Andrew turned to her, ignoring Endymion's glare. "You want to give up the chance of finding love in favor of a contract? That doesn't sound very romantic."

Serena shook her head at him, imploring him to understand. "This is probably my only chance of companionship. You've seen me at school. I'm not like other girls. What boy would want me?" Andrew stepped back, his mouth forming a straight line.

"I just don't like it," he said stubbornly.

"You don't have to like it," Serena snapped. "I've never even talked to you before today, so it's none of your business. Just go home and forget you ever saw anything. Forget you ever even knew me."

They glared at each other, neither willing to budge. Endymion looked from one to the other and chuckled. "Well, that is interesting." he said. Andrew quirked an eyebrow at him.

"What is?" Endymion gave him a knowing look. "I don't believe I have to tell you." Andrew paled a little and his step faltered.

"F-fine," he agreed, his shoulders slumping. "I'll go along with this."

"I don't know why you'd bother," Serena replied, still sulking.

"Me either," Andrew said under his breath. "I'll show him around and help him integrate. But you get to break the news to your mom without me."

"Um, duh! She doesn't know about you either. In fact, she's going to kill me just for being out here so late."

"Oh yes, when shall I meet your mother? And what of your father? I suppose I shall have to ask his permission before any official announcement is made, although the contract will prevent anything from happening to end it, except death, not even a magical contract can stop that," Endymion rambled, dusting off his tunic and running his hands through his hair.

"Wait, hold on." Serena said, throwing up her hands to prevent him from going near the house. She eyed his out of date clothing and bare feet and knew her mother could never meet her boyfriend like this, even considering she probably believed, like Serena, that she'd never have a boyfriend to have to meet. She still wanted him to make a good impression on her. "You're going to need to buy some new clothes and shoes. And a haircut wouldn't hurt either." she added, eyeing the flowing locks.

Andrew snickered as Endymion gripped his hair protectively. "Yeah, I'll take care of that to." he added, laughing as he headed back towards the fence. "Can whatever magic you have left produce a credit card?" he added over his shoulder. Endymion waved his hand, a card appearing between his fingers. He looked it over curiously.

"What is this?" he asked.

"Money," Serena supplied, ignoring Andrew's laughter.

"This is money?" he asked. "Why do so many ask for money? This appears easy to obtain."

"Andrew will only be too glad to explain it to you tomorrow, while he takes you shopping!" Serena exclaimed as Andrew disappeared over the wooden fence, his laughter turning to grumbling. "Until then, you'll have to stay away. I want my mother to have a good first impression of you." In Andrew's absence she realized how very close they were standing and she took a step back, her cheeks heating up.

"Um…I assume you'll have no trouble finding your place? I guess the contract will help you out. I…um…have to go now. My mom will be getting worried." she gave a half wave and turned to gather her things. Endymion wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him, pressing velvety lips against her forehead.

"Thank you…Serena." he whispered, smiling down at her before seeming to vanish into the night air.

"Serena!" her mother called as she threw open the door. "I told you to get inside! It's freezing out here and it's almost midnight!" Serena turned to her mother, hoping she wouldn't notice the blush in the darkness.

"I'll be right there, I just…I saw a shooting star."

The next morning dawned foggy and cold. Condensation had formed on Serena's window, dripping onto the windowsill. Her alarm clock erupted in a shrill singing and a groggy hand crawled from beneath the quilt to shut it off. Serena sat up on her elbows and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, trying to catch the thought that was gnawing at the edge of her mind, something she should remember. She looked at the window, watching as more droplets formed on the window and spilled onto the wood. The fog had settled outside in a thick blanket and it would be slow going on her way to school, until the sun had a chance to burn the fog away that is.

Burn. The rolling fog was the same gray as ash. Ash. Ashes on a black surface. Black eyes staring into her green ones.

Serena sat up, almost falling from the bed. "Endymion!" she exclaimed. Had it really happened? Did she dream the whole thing? Her telescope and quilt were still propped in the corner behind her door where she'd discarded them the night before. She jumped from her bed and ran to her closet, digging through a box on the floor until she pulled out the black bottle she'd stashed where her mom was least likely to find it and ask questions.

So the whole thing with the falling bottle had actually happened. At least she hadn't hallucinated that much. But she could hardly bring herself to believe the bottle had contained a mythical, wish granting being who'd convinced her to marry him to set him free. Maybe she'd been hit in the head with the bottle and dreamed everything after seeing it, waking up only after her mom had come out to call her in. Serena held on to that hopeful thought as she prepared for her day, pulling on her usual pair of jeans and floral top. As she was tying her sneakers her mother came to her door and knocked, announcing they'd be leaving in five minutes. She grabbed her backpack and headed to the kitchen to grab an apple and froze when she saw Andrew sitting at the kitchen table with her mother.

He waved at her as he looked up, her mom turned to smile coyly at her. "Serena, you should have told me your little friend lived next door! I'd have sent over a plate of cookies." she turned back to Andrew.

"She never talks about any of her friends, I had no idea you two were so close." Serena glowered at Andrew from behind her mother, panicked at the thought of what he'd told her.

"Oh yeah, we're best buds, right Sere?"

"Aw!" her mom cooed. "Sere, how sweet! Do you need a ride to school Andrew?"

"No!" Serena exclaimed at the same time Andrew said, "Why thank you, that'd be great, ma'am!"

She followed her mother and Andrew to the car, sliding into the front seat as she threw an irritated look at the seemingly inconspicuous Andrew.

"So Andrew told me you have home room together and that's how you met." her mother said as she threw the car in reverse and pulled out onto the highway.

Serena glanced back at Andrew, again wondering just how much he'd told her.

"Oh yeah, we've been homeroom buddies all year." he lied smoothly. Serena snorted, eliciting a frown from her hopeful mother.

"That is just so lovely. I'm glad to meet one of Serena's friends. I'm just sorry it took until nearly the end of the school year to do it."

"Yeah, me to." Serena mumbled.

"So, I came over this morning to ask if you'd let me take Serena to the mall this evening. There's this big expo going on at the planetarium next door, but we wanted to grab lunch first. Is it cool?"

"Oh, I think that'd be great!" her mom practically screamed, the car wavering a little in the lane. Serena flushed at her mom's over excitement but also at what Andrew had said. The mall. She knew the planetarium was not having an expo. She'd be among the first to know since she subscribed to their monthly newsletter. He was lying again and Serena knew why. The whole Endymion thing had not been a dream. They were going to the mall to get him some new clothes, she was sure of it. This means…she really was engaged. Her sigh of resignation was lost in Andrew and her mom's chatter and she rode the rest of the trip in silence, mindlessly curling a loose strand of hair around her pinky as her thoughts rested on Endymion.

Andrew had said she was giving up a chance at finding love. Maybe he was right. If she wasn't so scared of people perhaps she could find a boyfriend. She wasn't hideous; her only abnormality was her ears. It certainly wasn't the worst affliction one could be stuck with. But she'd never allowed herself to think of her as being pretty. She was afraid attempting to date would only worsen her shyness. But she'd been able to maintain a semblance of control around Andrew. After getting over that initial shock. Now it seemed like nothing to go up to him and chat, although they had witnessed what was arguably a miracle and that did have a hand in helping people bond. She looked back at him in her mirror and he grinned. She couldn't help but smile back. It seemed he had that effect on people.

They arrived at the school none too soon and Serena climbed out thankfully, ignoring the looks people were shooting her as Andrew climbed out as well. They waved to her mom as she drove off, smiling a goofy grin, and made their way into the school amidst fevered whispering.

"Why can't people just mind their own business?" Serena whispered as she kept her eyes on her feet and willed her blood to stay away from her cheeks.

"If only they knew the truth, eh?" he chuckled, nodding at one of his guy friends. He followed her to her locker and leaned against her neighbor's. "So, we'll be meeting Endymion at the mall at 3:30." he supplied, his grin slipping. He left me a note on my bed when I got home last night."

"A-alright." Serena stuttered, fumbling with her books.

"I don't like it though, Sere." he said again. "He still has some kind of power. It's not natural. What if he's lying and he's really some kind of succubus?"

"Um…I think a succubus is a woman." Serena couldn't help but giggle. "A male is called an incubus."

"That's not much better!" Andrew half shouted, still ignoring the looks people were shooting. "I think you should call this whole thing off."

"I don't think I could, even if I wanted to." Serena explained patiently. "It's a magical contract. I don't think they can just be fed through a shredder."

"Humph." was Andrew's reply as he followed her to home room. More people watched as Andrew took the usually vacant seat next to Serena, turning it slightly so he could still converse with her. He seemed immune to the incredulous looks and whisperings but Serena was acutely aware of them. Her face was beet red, she was sure and she tried to keep her gaze locked on her desk. "Well, I'm going to keep my eye on him." Andrew assured her. "There is something odd about him."

"Of course there is, he's a genie." Serena mumbled miserably, as the whispers seemed to turn into screams in her overly sensitive ears.

"What's wrong?" Andrew asked, finally noting her discomfort. Serena turned wide eyes on him in surprise.

"You don't care that they're spreading rumors about us?" she asked.

"No," he replied nonchalantly. "They do that all the time. This is just the first time you've noticed."

"What?" she squeaked. "What have they said about me?"

"That's you're mute, a serial killer, a foreigner, and stuck up." he listed on his fingers. "None of which are true and everyone secretly knows it." he tried to reassure her.

"I can't believe I've been walking around school with that plastered on me." she whispered, burying her face in her hands.

"It's just because you're quiet." Andrew said. "Nobody knows what to think of you so they make stuff up."

"Why do they have to talk about me at all? Why can't they just pretend I'm invisible?" she asked through the space in her fingers.

"Because that would be boring." he smiled at her. She attempted a weak smile back and lowered her hands. Maybe if she had heard about this the day before she would have broken down, but having Andrew there to talk with seemed to make the discovery easier to bear. School passed in a blur. Andrew invited Serena to sit with him at lunch, making waves again in the whisper mill, but she tried her best to ignore it and stammered and blushed her way through lunch with his friends, two skater boys who didn't know what an asteroid was and a cheerleader who actually turned out to be really nice and helped to ward off the fledgling testosterone from the three boys.

Before Serena was really ready for it, the end of the school day was upon her and Andrew was waiting at her locker, a grim and determined look on his face. "Are you ready to meet your fiancé?" he asked, somewhat mockingly.

Serena took a deep breath and closed her locker door, girding herself as if for a great battle. "As ready as I'll ever be." she replied, a little weakly. The burn of his lips on her forehead still resonated in her mind and she felt as if they had left a permanent mark there that anyone might guess what had happened in her backyard that last starry night. But no…nobody knew about Endymion, yet. If anything, from the rumors she'd managed to not tune out, everyone thought she was dating Andrew. Which was ridiculous enough in its own right, but she hoped it would keep people busy enough not to notice Endymion anytime in the near future.

They caught the city bus and held onto the straps as the after school crowd chattered loudly in the stuffed seats. The girl who sat with Andrew at lunch, Molly, got on the bus, waving to Andrew as she took the only available strap beside Serena.

"Hey, Molly!" Andrew greeted her, gripping his strap as the bus pulled away from the curb, moaning under the weight. Serena wondered in panic if the bus would even make it to the mall.

"Where are you guys headed?" Molly asked after waving at Serena who smiled shyly back.

"The mall. I need some new wheels for my skates and Serena is meeting up with somebody." Andrew replied readily.

"Oh?" Molly seemed surprised. After what Serena had learned today it was no shock. Molly was probably surprised Serena knew anybody else. "Who?"

"Her boyfriend," Andrew blurted before Serena could think of a suitable lie. She stared in open-mouthed panic at Andrew, oblivious to the knowing, somewhat triumphant smile of Molly. Andrew shrugged at her, attempting to rein in his smirk.

"Ooh," Molly cooed in shocking resemblance to her mother. "What's his name? Does he go to school with us?"

"No," Serena replied in a subdued voice. "He goes to the community school here." She wondered in Molly was heading to the mall as well, and if she was she'd surely see Endymion and his strange clothing. "He actually," she began, her mind working quickly. "He just got back from a study abroad program in…India." His clothes had been vaguely Asian. "He lost all his clothes at the airport though and we're meeting him today to help him pick out some new ones." She was feeling proud of her lie until Molly replied with a squeal.

"Oooh! Shopping! Can I come? I am really good at choosing clothes for guys, you wouldn't believe!" She turned hopeful, brown eyes on Serena and she couldn't find a good enough reason to turn her down.

"Nice job," Andrew whispered in her ear as the bus slammed on its breaks as it neared the drop off station by the mall. "She was probably just going to head home to." he chuckled at the glare Serena gave him and ushered her and Molly off the bus so the majority of the throng could exit behind them.

"I didn't know the mall would be so crowded." Serena commented.

"It's _the_ place to hang out after school," Molly answered, waving at several people. "Haven't you ever been to the mall after school?"

Serena avoided Andrew and Molly's eyes as she answered. "I've never been in the mall, at all." Molly gasped in horror before turning pitying eyes on her.

"Is your mom that strict? I had wondered if your antisocial behavior was really because of an overbearing parent, but I didn't want to mention it before…"

"Give the clinical analysis a rest, Molly." Andrew joked. "Serena just doesn't get out much, right Sere?"

He was trying to help her save face. Serena gave him a grateful smile. "Yeah, I'm just…a hermit." she giggled. Andrew laughed with her and Molly gave them a confused look.

"So, where are we meeting this Endymion guy?" Molly asked as they walked into the brightly lit atrium. Just a little stunned from the bustling crowds and echoing voices, Serena searched the room for the one person who was sure to stand out amidst the rush of middle class suburbia.

"Over there," Andrew whispered, guiding her eyes with his pointer towards the entrance to the food court. Endymion was standing by a fast food, burger joint, looking incredibly out of place in his stitched tunic, munching on a box of fries, calmly surveying his surroundings. Serena was surprised they'd let him in at all without any shoes. She supposed the security guards had been too entertained to stop him. He certainly stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Poor dude," Molly said sadly, taking in his attire and shoeless state. "He is sorely in need of some fashion guidance. Don't worry, Sere." Molly said solemnly, putting her hand on Serena's shoulder as though offering comfort. "I know exactly how to help him."

Endymion spotted them from across the room and waved energetically, shouting a greeting which nearly shattered the atrium's roof. Serena never knew her face could be so hot as Endymion jogged across the atrium, throwing his arms open as he neared them and taking Serena into his arms in a passionate embrace. He placed his lips on her forehead as he had last night and was slow in pulling away. Andrew snorted and Molly went doe eyed, while Serena fought between wanting to stay in his arms and hide and wanting to run as far away from his as possible.

"We should get started," Serena finally muttered, settling for pulling away from his lips and keeping her gaze pointed at her sneakers. "I have to be home by five."

"No problem!" Molly exclaimed. "Hi, Endymion, I'm Sere's friend, Molly. I'm going to help you with your new wardrobe!"

Endymion gave her a dazzling smile. "I'm very grateful for your assistance Miss Molly. I want to look my very best for my darling Serena." he grinned down at Serena, who still refused to look up.

"Aw!" Molly swooned, eliciting another eye roll from Andrew.

"Let's go," he said in an irritated voice. "The men's clothing department is this way." He led the through the crowded walkways, Endymion wrapping a protective arm around Serena, Serena trying to focus on not blushing and walking at the same time, and Molly chattering about Endymion's skin tone and height and the perfect wardrobe to compliment both his appearance and personality.

"You are uncomfortable?" Endymion asked as they neared the clothing store. Serena looked up, hoping to belay his suspicions but found she couldn't lie when he turned those black eyes on her.

"Only a little," she admitted. "I've never had a boyfriend before, so it's a little awkward."

Endymion smiled at her and released her shoulders, settling on walking a few inches away from her. "Is this better?" he asked. Serena smiled back at him, breathing a secret sigh of relief and nodding earnestly.

"Thank you," she said fervently.

"You are welcome. I want you to be comfortable with me, but on your own terms." he said. "I do not want to force myself on you. Love will come soon enough." Serena flushed again, but not as bad as before. As his fiancé, she knew she'd have to get comfortable touching him and being near him. But she appreciated that he was willing to give her time and space to reach that zone of comfort.

Andrew sauntered into the men's clothing store, glancing at the racks and shelves with little interest while Endymion took in his surroundings with wide eyes. "These are clothes men wear these days?" he asked, pointing to a bedazzled t-shirt with an image of a skull.

"Yuck! No!" Molly exclaimed, sending a withering look at the garment. "Not unless you're on a bad reality show." She pulled him over to the rack of button down shirts and jackets, throwing them into his arms by the bunch. Before she was finished she'd loaded Andrew and Serena down with equal amounts of clothing, adding jeans, polo's, and solid colored T-shirts, as well as an array of hats she stacked pancake style on each of their heads. "To the fitting room," she announced when they complained of the heavy load.

Serena rushed in and deposited her load on the low seat before rushing back out and taking a seat beside Molly. Andrew was on his way out when Endymion questioned the use of the belt and decided he'd better stay and help him maneuver the foreign clothes. He yelled to Molly that Endymion wasn't used to having a stylist dress him, flattering her enough to stop any questions about Endymion's ignorance of modern clothing.

He came out in a button down first, with a black, fitted jacket on and casual jeans, a fedora perched almost negligently on his blue-black hair. Molly whistled at him, jostling Serena as she clapped her approval. Serena had to admit, it was a vast improvement over the saggy pants.

"Serena?" Endymion asked, searching her eyes for her acceptance. She smiled up at him and clapped as well.

"You look great!" she agreed. He smiled with relief and returned to the fitting room where he tried on all the clothes and modeled them before Serena and Molly. Once Molly had deemed his wardrobe to be complete, for the summer season, anyway, they headed to the checkout, leaded down with his purchases.

"Paper or plastic?" the slightly bored cashier asked.

"Neither," Endymion answered before anyone could answer for him. "Little silver card." he said, proudly flashing the credit card he'd produced last night.

"Ha ha," the cashier replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He took the card from a confused Endymion and swiped it, printing out the receipt and shoving both at Endymion.

"What did I say?" Endymion asked as they exited the store. He was dressed in one of his new purchases, the casual jeans and a green polo that enhanced his arm muscles so that Serena was having a hard time concentrating on not blushing, again.

"The card is made of plastic, so when he asked you paper or plastic, he meant paper money or the card."

"Well, that is not so obvious." Endymion replied disdainfully. Serena laughed and agreed as they made their way to the shoe store, since Endymion was still walking around barefoot. After being sized, Molly took him through the aisles, stacking up boxes in his arms to match his attire.

"It's a good thing you made a platinum card." Andrew commented as his arms were drafted into carrying shoes.

"The contract is very thorough." Endymion replied.

"Yeah, about that contract," Andrew started but was stopped by Molly squealing over a pair of leather boots.

"These would look so hot on you! Oh you have to have them!" She requested a pair in his size and the boots went on immediately. Molly looked over her creation, a frown creasing the skin between her eyebrows. "There's still something missing." she tapped her chin, while Andrew and Serena sweated under the load of Endymion's purchases. "Aha!" she practically screamed, grabbing his hand and leading him to the cashier to pay, prancing around impatiently before leading them to the salon next door. "Make him movie star gorgeous!" she commanded the stylist. "This one's on me," she winked at Serena, who feebly smiled back through a gap in the packages. Andrew carelessly discarded his on the seats in the waiting area and unloaded Serena's. She thanked him, while rubbing her sore muscles, once again thinking about the way Endymion's looked in that shirt. She shook her head as she sat beside Andrew who was watching Molly and the stylist make over Endymion.

"I suppose you're glad you made that contract now." Andrew said grumpily. "Take away the funny clothes and shaggy hair and you've got a stud for a fiancé."

"I wouldn't mind if he wasn't a stud." Serena replied truthfully. "He's nice and he understands me." she smiled as she watched him endure the squealing of the two women in control of his hair. He caught her eye and winked at her, causing her heart to flutter. It was a foreign feeling to Serena, flirting with a guy, having one flirt back. But she liked it.

"Well, like I said, it doesn't hurt that he's a stud." Andrew said again, his voice a little down. Serena turned to ask him what was wrong but an even more obnoxious squeal than anything that had exited Molly's slips erupted from the salon door and everyone looked up to see what had caused the commotion.

Alexia Highwater gawked at Endymion, her perfectly manicured hands flying to her perfectly coifed hair, ensuring her strand was in place before she plastered on a fake-white smile and sauntered into the salon. "Well, hello, Mr. Hottie!" she said in what was supposed to be a sultry voice, but seemed to grate on Serena's ears like nails on a chalkboard. Alexia was head of the dance team and the school heartbreaker. She was voted best-looking, most likely to succeed, and most popular in the senior poll and with good reason. Even with her grating personality, she was the most beautiful girl at school and knew it. Her cerulean blue eyes slid over Serena and Andrew, but landed on Molly with disappointed malice.

"Hello, Molly," she greeted, turning her fake smile on her. "Are you with Mr. Hottie here?"

"Sort of," Molly replied, sending an amused look at Serena. Endymion was watching her with an air of distaste.

"But you're not dating him are you?" Alexia clarified, batting her heavy eyelashes at him.

"No," Molly replied. Before she could say anything further Alexia sauntered up in front of Endymion and planted herself on his lap, her micro-mini shimmying up her tan thigh, no doubt exactly the way she wanted it to.

"How about you take me out for some frozen yogurt, Mr. Hottie?" Alexia proposed, skimming a white-tipped nail along his firmly set jawbone.

"Who do you keep calling this, Mr. Hottie?" Endymion asked, glaring at her. "My name is Endymion Rotham. He stood and dislodged her from his lap, much to the dismay of both Alexia and the stylist, who'd still been working on his hair, though was watching the scene with glee. He went to Serena and pulled her up to stand beside him. "And I am engaged to Serena Marshal." he announced proudly.

Squeals from Molly and the stylist drowned out the disbelieving scream of outrage from Alexia who sized up the girl she'd never cared to pay attention to before. A girl who showed absolutely no cleavage or leg and wore her hair in that tacky bun every day and could pick up Wi-Fi with those ears, but had managed to land the hottest man in Centerville?

"You're engages?!" Molly cried, rushing to grasp Serena's hands and jumping up and down in excitement. "It's so romantic!"

Serena held back tears of panic and anger, knowing Endymion had not realized what he'd just done, but mortified anyway. Alexia would spread that all over school now and then what would people think? Engaged in high school? Serena Marshal? Scandalous!

"Dude," Andrew whispered. "I think she wanted that to be a secret for a little longer."

Endymion looked down at Serena, looking extremely goofy with only half of his hair cut and frizzed up, though his gaze was completely serious. "Is it true, Serena? Have I done something wrong?"

Serena stared back at him through her tear filled eyes and let out a sigh instead of the angry yes she so wanted to emit. He didn't know. "No, you're alright. It's just a little…inconvenient." As Serena said them, she knew the words were true. People had been saying she was a serial killer. This had to be a way better rumor than that. "You'd better finish getting your hair cut. Five o'clock remember?" she ushered him back to the salon chair, again reassuring him she was alright.

"Why'd you do that?" Andrew asked irritably. "You should have told him off!"

"It wasn't his fault." Serena replied in a tired voice. "He probably thought he was defending my honor or something."

"But Alexia's going to spread that all over school now." Andrew warned.

"I know." Serena said. "It's okay. I think I'm going to have to become impervious to rumors. Besides, it was only a matter of time before people found out anyway." Andrew grunted and sat back in his chair, arms crossed.

The stylist and Molly resumed their stations over Endymion's hair, Molly making suggestions while the stylist snipped away at the ebony tresses. Finally, after a good sized mountain of hair had accumulated on the black and white tiled floor, the stylist grinned and announced he was finished, tearing off the smock and twirling Endymion around simultaneously. Andrew and Serena gasped at the transformation a haircut had made. No longer past his shoulder, his black hair curled against him tanned neck and faded upwards into a delicately layered style which complimented his strong jaw and high cheekbones.

"You look…great!" Serena exclaimed, clapping her hands together. Molly and the stylist glowed over their creation and shook hands before they left the salon, once more laden down with Endymion's new wardrobe.

He led them out into the mall parking lot, searching through the cars. "Ah, here we are." he announced as they approached a red corvette. Andrew's jaw dropped as he saw the flashy car and he fumbled with the boxes of shoes.

"Did you…that's a stingray corvette!" he exclaimed. "How did you get it?"

"It was a gift from the same one who introduced Serena and me." Endymion replied cryptically, raising his eyebrow. "Of course."

"Well, who is he and where can I get one?" Molly asked, looking over the car with appreciation for its sleek lines and pristine paint.

"I do not think that would be a good idea," Serena laughed nervously. "It's a tad extravagant, though. Maybe you should trade it in for something a little more low key?" Serena pictured Endymion driving up to her house to meet her mom in a sports car. It would not be pretty.

"I will…do my best." Endymion promised haltingly.

"Andrew will help you." Serena exclaimed. "Right, Andrew?" she looked pleadingly at him, hoping her eyes would convey the message her mouth could not with Molly standing only a foot away and looking at them all curiously.

He exhaled tiredly, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "Fine," he said. "I'll go with him to…the car dealer and trade it in."

"Too bad," Molly pouted as Andrew climbed into the passenger seat, with a little trepidation. "That car is totally hot." She leaned close to Serena and whispered in her ear. "But so is your fiancé so who needs a car?" she giggled and Serena blushed while Endymion watched them with a grin playing at the corners of his mouth.

"Should I take you all home?" Endymion offered. Andrew scowled at him from the passenger seat before moving to the back.

"Um…I guess. You can drop me off a block or so from my house." Serena concluded. Molly squealed and jumped in the back seat with Andrew.

"You look lovely today." Endymion whispered as they stood beside the car. Serena smiled shyly and ducked her head as she climbed into the passenger seat, Endymion not far behind her.

"You do know how to drive, right?" Andrew asked. Serena was startled by the new thought.

"Of course, one of my old masters taught me how a few decades ago." he replied. Everyone in the car was silent before Andrew cracked a sarcastic laugh.

"Haha, dude. You're killing me." Molly giggled with him and Serena relaxed, sending Endymion a cautious look. He looked sheepishly back and mouthed an apology before turning on the car and putting it in reverse. The car rode like they were flying on a cloud and Serena mourned the loss of it but she wanted him to make a good impression on her mother. She was still thinking about the car when Endymion reached over and took her hand. His skin was warm, warmer than seemed natural, just as his lips had seemed to burn into her skin those times he kissed her forehead. She had thought it had just been blood rushing to the spot from her blush, but it seemed his internal temperature was higher than hers. She wondered if he had a fever and only barely resisted the urge to press the back of her hand to his forehead. Funny how he had changed her so completely that she wanted to touch him, even if only to see if he was okay.

"You guys make the cutest couple!" Molly said from the back seat when she noticed their clasped hands. "I want to be at this wedding, can I come, Sere?" she asked, hopefully. "Can I be a bridesmaid?"

Serena paled at the thought of a wedding, the thought of standing in front of people and talking…and then…kissing Endymion." she thought she was going to be sick.

"Serena will probably elope." Andrew spoke up from behind her. "That seems to be more her style."

Eloping. Serena calmed down and allowed herself a smile of relief. Of course she could elope. But then she'd still have to kiss Endymion. Her stomach clenched again. It seemed there would be no escape from that particular embarrassment.

They took Molly home first, following her directions to a nice, upper middle class neighborhood with two story houses and winding drives that ended at faux gates. Her house was a Victorian style two story with an expertly manicured lawn and stone lions guarding the driveway.

"You take the bus?" Serena asked wonderingly.

"Unfortunately." Molly frowned as she unbuckled her seatbelt. "Mom has this whole belief that I should work my own way up so she refuses to buy me a car. So I'm protesting by riding the bus."

Serena chuckled as she waved to Molly, glad that she had met her, even if she'd had to step out of her comfort zone.

"She's nice," Serena said as they drove off again.

"Yeah, she's cool." Andrew agreed before the car settled into silence. Endymion continued to grasp Serena's hand, his warmth becoming a comforting presence on her skin. She could imagine herself getting used to it someday. She managed a smile at Endymion who grinned back at her, steering the car as though he'd been doing it his whole life.

"So, one of your…masters…" she stumbled over the word, not liking the way it sounded and resolving to come up with something else to call them. "They taught you how to drive?"

"Yes. It was a long time ago. They learned I had come from a time with no automobiles and did not know how to operate one so they took it upon themselves to educate me. I could not say no."

"Did they let you out to drive sometimes?" Serena asked.

"Only when they needed to go somewhere and were too intoxicated. Which is why, I learned, they taught me." he replied with a frown. "I had not driven since then."

"Seems cruel," Andrew spoke up from the back. "To teach you how to run away but know you could not."

Serena glanced back at him but he was staring out the window at the passing houses. He seemed sad. She remembered to ask him what was wrong with him later.

"Yes, they were not the kindest of masters." he replied. "But not all of them were so. I have had several people who wished for things to help their friends and family."  
"Did you ever have anyone wish for world peace?" Serena asked curiously.

"Of course. That one was very popular among the kind ones. However, my powers are not so all encompassing. The most I could manage is to stop a quarrel among friends or perhaps bring somebody home from a war. That was another popular request."

"So your power had restrictions?" Serena asked.

"Of course. I was only a jinni, not a god." Endymion replied. "I could not resurrect. I could not change nature. Those types of things. It was a sort of power within reason. I had even less power than a natural born djinn."

"You mean the genie," Serena began. "It's its own species?"

"The djinn are beings. They are born of fire and air and their magic is natural to them. They choose to reveal themselves to humans and grant their wishes, some for the benefit of humans, and others to cause mischief. Though not all djinn choose to be bound to lamps or bottles. Some reside in certain locations and reveal themselves to travelers."

"So what about the djinn like you?"

Endymion considered her question. "An enchanter turned me into a jinni, to the extent that a human could become one. It was a punishment."

"What did you do to be imprisoned?"

Endymion sighed and pulled the car over on a deserted street, putting the gear into park before turning to Serena. "I really did deserve my punishment." he began. "You see, in my…previous life, I guess you could say, I was a ladies man."

Andrew snorted and Serena shot him a warning look.

"I know, I know," Endymion chuckled. "It was not the most exciting beginning to my tale. But you see, I courted many women in my day and I was not always delicate with their feelings. I often jumped from one to the other without looking back. Let's just say, many fathers wanted my head on a silver platter." he paused, laughing bitterly. "That would have been welcome to the seeming eternity of servitude." Serena tightened her hold on his hand and he smiled at her, stroking her palm with his thumb. "I…began courting the Sultan's daughter, secretly, of course. I was a commoner, but I was ambitious. I believed if I could capture the heart of the Princess I would truly be a man. But I went too far. The Sultan discovered us and sentenced me to death."

"That seems harsh," Andrew grudgingly admitted.

"Perhaps by modern standards, but you must understand the way of ancient Persia. The Sultan was considered holy, ordained by the gods to rule Aria. His daughter, the princess, was deemed just as holy and untouchable. She pleaded for my life and my sentence was reduced to exile."

"So, how do you go from exile to eternal imprisonment?" Endymion's face darkened at Serena's innocent question.

"Surrounding Aria is a vast desert. No one would dare travel it alone, certainly not without extensive supplies. I carried nothing with me besides the clothing I was wearing when the Princess and I were discovered. I walked for a day and two nights before I collapsed. I was near death, I wish I had died." Endymion clasped his dark hair in suddenly trembling hands. "I was rescued," he laughed sarcastically, bitterly. "By a tribe of si'lats,"

"What's a si'lat?" Serena whispered.

"A female jinni. They live in groups entirely of women. They discovered through one of the women who had a strange gift of discerning truth that I had misused the Princess. They took it upon themselves to impart justice. It was the tribe leader, Beryl, who sealed me to the lamp."

"That's terrible," Serena touched his arm gently. "What they did to you was wrong. Nobody deserves what they did to you."

"Perhaps not, although I have more than learned my lesson. I have developed quite a healthy respect for women, perhaps even a fear." He turned sad eyes on Serena. "But you are special. I don't feel quite like such a villain in your eyes. You…forgive me if this seems impertinent, you remind me of the Princess. She too looked at me as though I had done no wrong, even though I broke her heart. Even though I persuaded you to give up any chance at a future of true love. I am a selfish fool." He rested his forehead on the steering wheel and was silent.

"How long was it before you were released from the lamp?"

"I felt the lamp being thrown through space and perhaps time itself, and landing in a cold and wet land where I waited five years for someone to release me. It was an old man, his skin was pale and he wore the pelts of animals in thick layers. He spoke a language I had previously never heard, but understood through my newfound magic. He said I had landed in a country called England, ruled by a King called Richard, the Lionheart. He wished for a fortune, a beautiful wife, and a knighthood. Still being bitter and new to my powers I gave him foreign money, an ill wife who died soon after, and a knighthood in a cult that plotted the murder of the King. He was put on trial and beheaded. After that I was kinder, though sometimes I messed up a wish on accident, learning to use my power. I remember everyone I granted wishes to, and I know exactly what happened to them after they received those wishes. The first man still haunts my dreams. I wish I hadn't been so cruel."

"Wow," Serena breathed, unaware she'd been holding her breath.

"I am sorry you have to have a fiancé with a tainted history such as mine. I am truly sorry for what I did to those girls and I repented long ago, but the spell does not recognize repentance. I learned the ways out of the spell through the years as well. There were several librarians I gave wishes to and they understood my need to know about the spell surrounding me. They gave me access to historical documents, some written even after the curse was placed on me. That is how I learned of the marriage loophole. And why you are here with me today." he turned thankful eyes on Serena. "You have saved what is left of my life. You do not know what you mean to me." His free hand came up to cup her cheek, his rough thumb caressing her soft, pink cheek. "You blush far too much for one so beautiful."

Serena could not speak, though Andrew grunted. She realized how he had managed to lure in so many women. He was a natural lothario. And he would one day be her husband. The air in the car seemed too hot and she turned away finally managing to catch her breath. "I'm late." she said, pointing to the clock on the dashboard that read five o'clock. Endymion smiled and dropped his hand, turning the car on and pulling back onto the road.

Serena directed Endymion to stop at the end of her street and she and Andrew climbed out of the car, waving to him as he drove away.

"I'll help him choose another car when he comes over tonight." Andrew assured Serena when she began to fret over the attention the car gained, driving down her street.

"He's coming over?" she perked up.

"To my house." Andrew reiterated. "I promised I'd help him fit in with modern day men after all." Andrew threw his shoulders back proudly.

"Thank you, Andrew." Serena said. "Without you I have no idea what I would be doing now. This whole thing is just like a dream I feel like I could wake up from any moment."

"You've certainly changed fast enough." Andrew commented. "Two days ago I'd never heard your voice and now I can't get you to stop talking."

Serena stopped walking, frowning at him. "That's mean. Why have you been so grumpy today? You were the one who talked to me first…technically." she added. "If you don't want anything to do with this, just say the word and you'll never hear from me again."

"I believe it." Andrew said, smiling slightly at her. "You definitely seem like the kind to hold a grudge." He laughed as her frown deepened and threw an arm around her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Sere. I'm just a normal dude and being around perfect Endymion makes me feel inadequate. The way he just flew from the sky and swept you off your feet, I guess I'm just a little jealous."

They began walking again, Andrew's arm still casually slung across Serena's shoulders.

"Jealous? Of Endymion being with me?" Serena asked, shocked.

"Just of how quickly he convinced you to marry him." Andrew assured her. "It takes much longer than that for a girl to even consider dating me." He sighed dramatically. "Like Molly. I asked her out a week ago and she's still "thinking about it"."

Serena raised an eyebrow up at him. "You and Molly?" she asked dubiously.

"What? Don't you think we'd be good together?" he said defensively.

"I don't know. She's nice and everything, but I just don't see you two as being an item."

"Says the girl who promised to marry a genie." Andrew replied sarcastically. Serena rolled her eyes but laughed along with him.


End file.
